The Infamous Marauders
Chapter Eleven
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters featured in this story they belong to J. K. Rowling.
Late October 1976
Remus stood alone in the cold empty room, wind whirled outside causing the house to creak and groan, he calmly removed his clothes and tucked them under a loose floorboard, it wouldn't be long now, he breathed deeply preparing himself only shivering slightly.
The moon emerged from behind the clouds shining through the dusty window, a gut wrenching scream pierced the dark lonely night and Remus dropped to his knees shuddering, he had never been under the effects of the Cruiciatus curse, fortunately, but if he had to guess he would imagine this is how it would feel. His very bones were on fire as they cracked, elongating and dislocating. His skin became taut over his body, as if it would tear open, his neatly trimmed fingernails curved into monstrous claws, the screams slowly distorted to anguish filled howls. This monthly trip is what earned the shrieking shack its name, the howling eventually subsided, leaving a werewolf on the floor panting rapidly.
Not too far away hidden in a tunnel was a stag, a dog and a rat, the dog lay low to the ground whining sadly, his canine senses alert to the pain of his friend in the house above. The boys had arrived in the tunnel under the whomping willow shortly before the moonrise, opening the hatch to the house above before promptly transforming to wait for their furry friend, they had learned from past transformations that it was better to let Moony come to them instead of entering up into the house, as the wolf seemed to feel threatened and would lash out aggressively when it awoke, it was best to allow Moony time to adjust.
The wolf above soon became alert sitting up stretching its sore limbs, the dust in the room was harsh on the wolfs sensitive nose, sniffing the air curiously, it cocked its head to the side 'pack' not a word spoken but a feeling inside the wolfs head, with that it bounded downstairs towards its animal friends, its pack. The other Marauders began to run as a loud pounding sound indicated Moony's approach, directing him towards the forbidden forest, it didn't take long for the wolf to catch up to the animals, not much could outrun a werewolf. Eventually the group made it to a clearing within the forest and the stag and dog came to a stop exhausted from the continuous pursuit, Wormtail clung to Prongs' antlers with a vice like grip for fear of falling. The boys would be safe in the clearing, the other creatures and beasts of the forest avoided werewolves, even the darkest entities living in the forest were wary to cross paths with a wolf on the night of the full moon.
The wolf took this opportunity to approach his pack to acknowledge them properly, when Moony approached Padfoot he stopped to stare at the black shaggy dog, the dog yipped playfully bouncing slightly but Moony just growled lowly in response. Prongs looked alarmed, instinctually Padfoot laid down low to the ground, although Sirius was still conscious and aware in his Animagus form the natural instincts of the canine would sometimes take over. Moony seemed to ponder this move, he came closer inhaling the canines scent, he growled again deeper this time his amber eyes flashing dangerously, Sirius was now panicking, what was he supposed to do, Moony came closer baring his teeth, pure panic washed over Sirius. Bending his face towards Padfoot Moony lightly bit the dogs neck, not enough to pierce the skin, it was almost as if he was showing that he could tear his throat open if he so wished, then suddenly he shot up bouncing, the usual playful attitude returning. That was unnerving Sirius thought gulping before jumping up to run around the clearing spiritedly with the wolf.
It was many hours later when the moon had begun its descent from the sky that the wolf became anxious and violent, the threat of its human prison imminent it began to lash out clawing at its chest howling with rage, the stag and canine tried to distract and prevent this rather unsuccessfully, taking longer than normal meaning Moony was littered with numerous bloody claw marks.
The first thing Remus realized was that his chest ached, badly. Then he noticed the cold biting at his fingers and toes, with a lot of effort he sat up, quickly retrieving his cloak and clothes from the loose floorboard, he dressed then made the slow descent downstairs to wait for Madam Pomfrey wincing as pain spread across his bloodied torso. It wasn't long before she arrived fussing over Remus providing a steady arm to help him back to the Hospital Wing. Sinking into a soft bed he quickly succumbed to his tiredness falling to sleep as healing balm was applied to his chest, when he awoke it was to the soft chatter of his fellow Marauders, noticing he was awake James smiled wildly handing Remus a chocolate frog, he gratefully accepted the proffered treat. James then took it upon himself to inform Remus of the previous night's activities, the three boys had already applied privacy charms before Remus had awoken so there was no risk of anyone overhearing the conversation. When James finally mentioned Moony's interest in Padfoot Remus' brows furrowed in confusion "I'm sorry if I scared you Sirius" Remus sighed sadly.
"Don't worry about it, I'm guessing the big bad wolf just wanted to assert his dominance" Sirius answered with a wink.
"Right well we best be off lunch is almost finished, we will catch you later Remus" James stood to leave, Peter shot Remus a sympathetic smile and Sirius grinned adding "Try not to miss us too much"
"I'll try" Remus laughed whilst rolling his eyes.
Once his friends left he pondered over what James had told him, it sounded threatening to him he would never want to hurt Sirius and would certainly never forgive himself if he hurt someone or inflicted this curse upon them. He decided he would have to research this in the library he couldn't risk asking somebody about the behaviour, as they might figure out he has company on his night time adventures. If anyone discovered that he left the shack in his werewolf form he would not only be expelled but possibly sent to Azkaban. Remus had recently been reading about new legislation from the Ministry clamping down on the werewolf community further, by some woman called Dolores Umbridge, the fact is by knowingly leaving the shack he was risking Wizards and Witches life's, something the Ministry would not be accepting of. From what he had read in the Prophet that Madam Umbridge wouldn't be satisfied until his kind were locked up in cages like the animals they supposedly were.
He decided to try and push his concerns to the back of his mind, knowing plenty of rest would be needed as it was nearly time to execute their Halloween madness upon Hogwarts, Remus settled back down into the infirmary bed closing his eyes drifting off into a dreamless sleep.